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If you’re one of the six people in the UK who hasn’t watched season two of Fleabag, then here’s what you need to know.

The second series follows Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s unnamed character, who is equal parts hot mess and perfect woman, as she attempts to charter the choppy waters of a sexually charged friendship with an extremely attractive priest.

Fleabag asks all sorts of clever questions about modern life, like what role religion has in 2019, how it’s possible to be both sex positive and recognise that casual sex can come from an unhealthy place and why some people look so much better in a jumpsuit than others.

But the question I found myself asking, as I had a demi orgasm over Andrew Scott telling Phoebe Waller-Bridge to ‘kneel’, is why I – and a lot of other women – am so desperately, universally, unflinchingly attracted to figures of authority.

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For me it started with teachers. I went to an all-girl boarding school so obviously everyone had a crush on a member of staff. When you go that long without seeing anything male it’s only natural. But for me it was deeper. I didn’t just like a bit of male attention or entertain the occasional fantasy.

Something about the combination of male, older and in a position of authority made me feel safe, protected and sheltered.

Even worse than teachers were priests. At Catholic school they’re an occupational hazard. When we very occasionally had an attractive (or even semi-attractive) man of the cloth brought in to talk to us, I was utterly spellbound. The heady combination of forbidden fruit, caring paternalistic role and position of total authority (what’s more powerful than a direct line to actual God?) was impossible to resist.

I had assumed that once I left school and met some boys my fixation on teachers, priests and anyone with any kind of authority would fade away. Sadly, it didn’t, which is how I found myself in a four and a half year long relationship with a man 36 years my senior.

(Picture: Ella Byworth for Metro.co.uk)

Francesca, 34, tells Metro.co.uk that she has a similar problem: ‘I’ve fancied almost every boss I’ve ever had. When I worked as a temp I would fall for anyone senior in an office who was kind to me or took a moment to explain how to use the coffee machine.

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‘It’s something about someone senior taking time to focus on me, like I’m special and worthy of extra attention. I can’t resist it.’

It doesn’t feel very empowered to be filled with a constant desire to hook up with people who can exert control.

Sex and relationships psychologist Natalie Cawley says a fascination with powerful people is a common tendency, explaining: ‘Studies have been done whereby people are artificially put in a position of power for a short time. The results show people were more likely to engage in conversation with the ‘powerful person’ who also inspired more creativity and spontaneity. Such effects may increase the likelihood of desire.’

So it’s normal, but where does this power fetish actually come from?

Natalie says: ‘The desire or attraction seems to come, in part, from the idealised view of the person, it is assumed that because a person holds a position of power they are respected, capable, together and are able to contain and respond to our own fragility or chaos. For such a person to value us would reinforce our ego and communicate to others that we are valuable, lovable and worthy.’

Power imbalances in relationships are a hot topic following the #MeToo movement. Undeniably there have been abuses of power from people in positions of authority both towards adults and children.

Fortunately for me, every authority figure I fell for in my adolescence either didn’t notice my thumping great crush, or wasn’t inclined to take advantage of it.

In adulthood the boundaries of appropriate relationships are blurred. We know that relationships between teachers and students are wrong, similarly between underage teenagers and adults. But what about when the object of your affection doesn’t have power over you directly? Does fancying someone because they have authority within their own life constitute a problem?

Lianne Young, a sex and relationships counsellor, says: ‘Being attracted to men who have positions of authority over other people may mean nothing apart from you like having the option to be submissive. But it could mean you are insecure and looking for security from someone else.

‘If you find the idea of someone making decisions for you, that can be dangerous territory as then you run the risk of becoming an object within the relationship and being reliant upon someone else.’

It’s impossible to make blanket statements about whether or not a relationship is healthy or unhealthy, but women who seek out powerful men over and over again might well be trying to heal internal wounds.

(Picture: Ella Byworth for Metro.co.uk)

Natalie goes on to explain: ‘The desire for those in power is deeply rooted in our psyche. In evolutionary terms someone in a position of power is seen as someone with resources and abilities that will create viable offspring and therefore we are driven to form an attachment with them.

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‘The attraction to power will also be based on an individual’s early attachment relationships. If one had a parent (particularly the opposite sex parent) who held a position of power in a nurturing, containing and protective manner the may be more likely to be attracted to such qualities in a mate.

‘If someone felt invalidated by someone in a power position in the family they may also seek out powerful mates. This is because as humans we commonly have a repetition compulsion, we repeat patterns in relating that are familiar to us, as this is less threatening.

‘We also engage in relationships with a similar dynamic and seek a different outcome in an attempt to gain reparation for the first invalidating relationship.’

As with any repeated behaviour or compulsion, there is a reason that we keep going for authority figures, and as Natalie says it’s probably to do with childhood trauma (isn’t everything?)

Whether or not a romantic of sexual predilection is ‘healthy’ is an enormous question and one I could burn some serious cash working out in therapy. Suffice to say, I doubt that my fetish for men in power positions is a hallmark of A Grade psychological health, but it’s also an ingrained part of my personality.

It would have been contrived in the extreme to spend my twenties dating passive, laidback men who thrived on irresponsibility just to avoid pandering to my power fetish.

In the end, I found a sort of cure for my fixation in the shape of my husband – eleven years my senior, capable of pulling rank occasionally, but very much not in a position of authority over me and not interested in micromanaging my life.

But even now, if I’m seated next to a teacher at a dinner party, he’ll raise an eyebrow at me across the table, full in the knowledge that I’ll never quite be able to shake my addiction to authority figures, and that I’m very slightly hoping they’ll ask why I haven’t handed in my coursework.